Lockerbie bomber seeks case review

Lawyers for the Libyan agent jailed for the Lockerbie bombing have applied for a review of his sentence and conviction.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) has received an application from solicitors acting for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.

Al Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of the murder of the 259 passengers and crew on board Pan Am flight PA 103 from London to New York, and 11 residents of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.

The commission is an independent body set up in 1999 to consider alleged miscarriages of justice in Scottish courts.

It can decide whether it is in the interests of justice to refer the case to the Appeal Court for a fresh appeal to be considered.

A previous appeal was unsuccessful.

Al Megrahi's solicitor, Eddie MacKechnie, said there was new evidence never mentioned before included in the team's case, but he refused to give details.

"The Commission is an independent body which will decide, in due course, after considering the application and making whatever inquiries it deems to be appropriate whether in this unique and important case there may have been a miscarriage of justice

"I do not consider it to be appropriate to publicise, in advance of the Commission's deliberations, any precise details of the case now presented.

"All I can say is that the case contains detailed legal arguments not previously presented, including allegations of unfairness, abuse of process, insufficiency of evidence, errors in law, non-disclosure of evidence and defective representation."